The Bombay High Court on Wednesday (December 23) asked municipal corporations of Maharashtra to be more progressive and inclusive while designing urban infrastructure. The court provided comprehensive guidelines for Municipal Corporations to see that women have adequate public urinals when needed. The directions were issued on a PIL filed by a Pune-based NGO “Milun Saryajani” seeking enforcement of the right to relieve oneself. The PIL said that while there were toilets at the community level, there were none “for women walking on the streets”.

Basic Right:

The court proclaimed that women had the equal right to safe and clean toilet at all convenient places. It constitutes the fundamental right to a dignified life, as indicated by Article 14 of our Constitution.

Guidelines:

Formulating a comprehensive scheme for construction of toilets for women walking on the streets.

Constitute a committee under the chairmanship of the commissioner or additional municipal commissioner to look into construction of toilets.

A woman attendant should be there in each such public toilet to ensure the toilets are kept in a clean and hygienic condition.

Toilets should be protected by a trained woman security person in uniform who shall be available round the clock.

CCTV cameras should be installed outside the toilets so as to ensure there is a check on miscreants, without compromising on the privacy of the users.

Provisions for proper ventilation and preferably natural light without compromising on the privacy, security and safety of women.

The new toilets should be a separate unit with a separate entrance and be preferably at a distance from the men’s toilets.

Women’s Special Need:
Women have special need of toilets, especially during menstruation, when it is difficult to anticipate when it will be time to change a sanitary napkin, resulting in frequent trips to the washroom. Holding on urination for a long time cause urinary tract infections, problems of distended bladders, and many other urogynecological problems.

Gender discrimination:

Decades after Independence, one of the things that the average Indian man, urban and rural, seems never to have learnt is how not to urinate or spit in public spaces. But worrisome is the Indian male’s complete insensitivity to women’s need for privacy while answering nature’s call. Men in general have more number of urinals, closets and toilet blocks as compared to women. In fact, the necessity for women to visit toilets is more and for a greater range of reasons, essentially because of biological differences.

Will it work?

Municipal corporations are already under financial crunch and they are not gaining anything from the Central govt’s “Swaccha Bharat Cess”. As such, compliance with all the guidelines in short to medium term seems Utopian, since mere four walls will not be enough.

The next hearing in High Court will be on March 8 – “Women’s Day”. Let us hope we will see some considerable improvement, if not a drastic one, in female public toilets.

Previous occasion:
On December 16, the Bombay High Court directed the Railways to ensure that women toilets on all railway stations be equipped with proper lighting, sanitation facilities and safety measures. The court granted the Railways one month’s time to implement the same.

Smart Cities:

The court said that public toilets were critical as “any large infrastructure project to make cities livable”. With stakeholders making all the right noises about turning cities into havens for investors to give them the push in the right direction for the Smart City project, the time is right to turn the focus on women’s needs and their right to pee in public spaces.

What about rural India?

The plight of women in villages remains far from improved. There is already skepticism about claims of Swachha Bharat Abhiyaan. It is important to stress that toilet is not mere a matter of modesty, privacy and health, but it is a matter of women’s safety. A young woman is most vulnerable when she goes out to relieve herself, especially in the dark hours. What can be more explanatory than the barbaric incident in Katra on August 28 last year, when two teen girls were found gang raped and hanged after they went to relieve themselves at night?

The Logical Indian hopes that debate starts around this issue that is part of our daily lives and still a major problem.

Govt Issues Circular For Third Gender People To Use Toilet Of Their Choice At Public Places

Partner Story

Know Why This Small Town In Tamil Nadu Is In The Guinness Book Of World Records

Did you know there is a town at the southern tip of India that can be called ‘Heaven on Earth’. Its people realise the importance of keeping the environment clean.

Madukkarai Panchayat in Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, is the cleanest place in India, owing to around 50 women who wake up every day to collect waste from each and every household in the town. At 6 AM, the women set out to work with their green jackets on, hands covered in gloves and caps adjusted perfectly on their heads. Every morning they line up for the roll call. These ‘Green Friends’ are part of the solid waste management program supported by ACC Cement – Madukkarai.

Madukkarai, a small town at the tip of the country, is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest recycling lesson in the world. With the help of around 50 women, who are now called ‘Green Friends’, and a simple, scalable model, this town is leading the way for efficient waste management. #SwachhBharat

While most of us find someone to put the blame on, Madukkarai decided to take control in their own hands. The town has 8,000 households and a population of 42,000. 82% of the homes hand over garbage to ‘Green Friends’ every day. 1,440 tonnes of garbage is collected annually from the town of 18 wards and 107 streets.

There is a lot that we can learn from Madukkarai. One of the most disturbing realities that we face, despite which part of the country we reside in, is the similar dirt everywhere – garbage piled up on roadside, drains clogged with plastic bags and dogs chewing on the leftover food we have callously thrown on the streets.

We keep our homes clean; make sure that the floors are mopped every day. But why do we not share the same sentiment for our surroundings? We hardly realize that the street outside our home is as much ours as is anybody else’s. We are the ones who use these roads every day to commute. Madukkarai realized this and the importance of a clean environment for our health and well-being.

Guinness Book of World Records for the largest recycling lesson in the world

‘Green Friends’ collect household wastes in eight different bins for wet waste, kitchen waste, plastic waste, etc. This is then disposed in large bins kept in several parts of the town. Trucks pick up this waste daily and take it to the resource recovery park where the garbage is recycled.

The treatment center segregates the different types of wastes. The kitchen waste is converted into fertilizers and given to farmers at extremely low prices to use in cultivation of their crops. The plastic waste is processed to be used in the construction of roads, and also at the large ACC factory where it is used as fuel at high temperatures which does not even cause pollution.

Due to the efforts of ‘Green Friends’, the citizens of Madukkarai, and the municipality, there has been a 60% reduction in landfill waste over the span of three years. There has also been a 50% reduction in the vehicle movement to the landfill sites, 85% of organic waste is converted successfully into vermin compost, ample reduction in the use of fossil fuels, reduction in greenhouse gas emission to 60%, and substantial decrease in the spread of malaria and dengue among the people. Furthermore, barren lands provided for compost yard have been successfully converted into fully functional organic compost yard and non-recyclable waste is used as an alternative energy source for the cement industry.

Madukkarai’s citizens have also become more environment-friendly, with 30% of the households segregating the organic-recyclable waste at home.

What we can learn

Madukkarai has paved the way to the sustainable development of our world. They have shown us that is not impossible to keep our environment clean. All we need is to inculcate in us a concern for mother Earth. It is commendable that ACC is supporting Madukkarai in its venture and helping it stay clean.

We, as citizens of other towns, cities, villages and states in India, have a lot to learn from Madukkarai. We too can have a healthier life if only we care enough and practice our civil duties proudly.